Russian soldiers acquired Western military equipment in Ukraine, and on Wednesday, the prideful display of its bounty opened to the public. The show will be open for a month.
At a Moscow WWII memorial park, 32 pieces of heavy equipment, including an M1 Abrams tank built in the United States, a Leopard 2A6 tank manufactured in Germany, and a Bradley armored combat vehicle manufactured in the United States, are on display. According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the display is a brilliant idea, and visitors must see the captured equipment.
On Wednesday, as the nation celebrated a public holiday, families thronged to Moscow’s Victory Park to see a disturbing assortment of war artifacts returned to Russia from Ukrainian battlefields. Twelve nations’ “trophies” are on display, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, South Africa, Turkey, Australia, and Germany.
The symbolic area honoring Russia’s victory over the Nazis in WWII will be commemorated on May 9, a day that has become pivotal to President Vladimir Putin’s lengthy reign, and the ceremony was staged in advance of these festivities.
Many people bought tickets to the Victory Park event because they wanted to see Russia portrayed as the hero against Western aggression. However, several people were startled by how close the battle was and felt rather uneasy about the show.
Last year, at Patriot Park close to Moscow, Russia also displayed a variety of acquired Western military hardware, including an M113 armored personnel carrier manufactured in the United States and a completely intact Storm Shadow cruise missile manufactured in France.
Russian troops are aiming to capture an additional area in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, and they seem to be operationally moving their emphasis to Chasiv Yar, a primary strategic goal.
